Barcelona | The Daily Norm

Mar 10

Post 500: Norms at La Pedrera, Barcelona

I am celebrating the publication of my 500th post on The Daily Norm! It’s unbelievable to think that I have sat at my computer over the last 2 and a half years, and typed out such a mammoth number of posts for my Daily Norm readers. But writing this blog has become such a naturally occurring, integral accompaniment to my life that frankly, my surprise at seeing 500 posts notched up is on a level with my daily surprise when I realise how quickly a year is passing. Still, there can be no complacency about the achievement of reaching this very significant hallmark in my blogging history, and a huge thanks has to go out to all of my readers and followers – somethings I feel like I really struggle to give back as much thanks and support as you deserve, but your readership really is important to me. As for the blog – well what a life changer it has been. To have this platform to share my thoughts, my creativity, my sketches, prints, photos and paintings – well it has made so much of what I do in my own little world worth the effort. After all, doesn’t every creative always yearn for an audience?

So what better way to celebrate my blogging achievement than to share a brand new insight on the world of “the Norms”, the characters who were the whole reason I set up this blog in the first place. Today we join the Norms in the beautiful Spanish city of Barcelona, which is a coincidence, because of course I have only come back from the city myself. Here we see the Norms visiting one of the most famous buildings created by architect genius Antoni Gaudi, La Pedrera (otherwise known as the Casa Mila). Famed for its quarry like facade and its tiled chimneys which look more like whipped meringue nests, La Pedrera is a masterpiece of modernist architecture and a much loved tourist destination for the Norms, not least because one of the chimneys appears to bear a very striking resemblance to a Norm…

Norms at La Pedrera (2014 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen and ink on paper)

So from the Norms in Barcelona, to my own trip to the city, join me later this week on The Daily Norm as I make headway through the next 500 posts of my blog which I cannot wait to write, and share with you. See you then!

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacy-brown.com

Mar 7

Barcelona | Photography Focus: Café Reial

When a winter’s city trip is graced by a little sunshine, it feels almost as though you are tricking the seasons. To feel the sun on your skin after months of deep freeze and half-hearted daylight is like the first bite of deliciously indulgent food after a period of health food austerity. So when the sun graced our recent trip to Barcelona, there was frankly no keeping us out of it, something to which my now rather ruddy face is testament. While the charm of Barcelona’s old gothic quarter streets is undoubtedly the fact that they are so narrow and built-up, this also means that the sun rarely reaches down to street level. Consequently, in order to enjoy a moment’s sun-basking without the inconvenience of shadow, nor the interruptions caused by wind, we had to get out of the squeeze of the gothic streets, and head for one of Barcelona’s hip and happening café-lined squares. And where better than to the King of them all? The Plaça Reial.

The Plaça Reial is, like so many of the similarly enclosed quadrants which make up the Plaza Majores of so many Spanish cities, the beating heart of Barcelona. Just off the equally bustling Las Ramblas, and providing welcome public space after the narrow maze of the gothic streets behind it, the square is a place where all of Barcelona gather, to have coffee and drinks with friends, to hear the music provided by buskers, to seek out the many bargains which are to be found in the square’s Sunday market, or merely to amble around with a dog or a date, or just enjoy the sunshine like we did over a coffee on each of our three mornings in the city. In fact taking our coffee in the square became something of a daily ritual without which the day would have started prematurely. It also enabled us to take up a prime position for a spot of people watching, something which this series of photos surely demonstrates we did well.

Whether it be those sunbathing in their windows, or the little dogs sunbathing on the pavement below – the Plaça Reial truly was a place where all of Barcelona came to enjoy the first sunshine of Spring – and we were only too happy to join them.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2014 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Mar 6

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Norms: The Saints Collection | St. George

Saint George and his dragon must together comprise one of the most famous icons of a saint there is, not least in England where St George is our patron saint. Yet as I was to discover only last weekend, we English are not the only country to claim him as ours. In fact St George is likewise a patron saint in Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Portugal, Ukraine and Syria to name but a few. He is also, I have now learned, the patron saint of none other than Catalonia, the autonomous region of Spain whose capital is Barcelona. And so having just spent the weekend in that very city, there seems no better time than to present the very first Saint of a new Norm sketch collection – I give you Saint George Norm.

Legend has it that St George defeated a dragon in the far off land of Silene. This dragon poisoned the air of a village, and in order to appease him, the people regularly sacrificed a lamb and a virgin who was chosen. One day the princess of the country met this fate; George killed the dragon and freed her, with the result that the Princess and the entire population were converted to Christianity; the religion behind whose cross St George had been protected as he valiantly fought the beast.

Here is my Saint Norm doing just that, killing the pesky dragon while his rather attractive horse looks on.

St George Norm (2014 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen, ink and gold paint on paper)

I realised that St George was something of a prominent figure in Catalonia only when I noticed statues and icons of the saint when exploring the old gothic quarter of Barcelona on my first day there last weekend. In the tranquil cloisters of the cathedral, a trickling fountain was topped by a bronze statuette of the saint valiantly riding his horse while trampling upon the dying body of the aggressive dragon. Then, upon walking past the city hall in the Plaça St Juame, I noticed the same venerable saint carved into the stone work of the city hall facade. Subsequent investigations reveal that “Sant Jordi” has been venerated in Catalonia since the 8th century, not only in Barcelona but also in Valencia and the Balearics. And in Barcelona itself, the Saint’s presence is felt not just in the obvious iconography – some say that Gaudi himself recognised the saint when he created his dragon-scaled roof atop the famous Casa Batlló.

Cathedral fountain

Another cathedral homage to the dragon

Facade of the city hall

Roof of the Casa Batllo

So with all of this in mind, I leave you to pay appropriate reverence to St George Norm in all of his golden glory, and to look also upon the Barcelona references I found to the saint. But as if by way of further appropriate reference, I also leave you with this English poster using St George as an image to encourage patriotic Englishmen to defend the nation at the outset of World War One 100 years ago. A timely reminder of the continuing power of the iconography of St George to inspire both patriotism and bravery in a time when all faith and hope appeared to have deserted mankind.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacy-brown.com

Mar 5

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Barcelona | Day One: A tale of two cathedrals

Despite all of the travelling I have been lucky enough to do over the years, there is one city which has always topped the bill as far as I am concerned: Barcelona. From the stunning medieval squares and dark narrow streets of its gothic quarter, and the café culture and art vibe of La Ribera surrounding the Picasso museum; to the elegant grid of shopping streets and modernist palaces in the Eixample, and the expansive Port Vell and its white sandy beach, Barcelona is one of these cities which just about has everything a city could offer. If you were asked to sit down at a drawing board and design the perfect city, surely Barcelona would be it: It’s a cultural hot spot, a city bursting with sites of historical importance, a shopping mecca, a business centre, a bustling port and a beach resort rolled into one. Coupled with that is a predominant party spirit, a sense of cultural and political freedom and an exuberance of chic and style which is unrivalled, in my opinion, elsewhere in Spain.

So while a trip to this most incredible of cities last weekend may have been my 7^th trip to the city, Barcelona’s multifaceted nature meant that there was still a huge amount to discover, and a pleasant opportunity to re-embrace sites and experiences otherwise more familiar to me. And most importantly of all it was an opportunity to properly inject my partner with the same enthusiasm I have always had for the city – after all, how else can I ever persuade him to move there? 😉

The atmospheric Barri Gotic

Day One in Barcelona provided such a chance to discover the city afresh. After years of staying in the Eixample region, I switched allegiances, choosing instead the super-chic boutique haven: the Hotel Neri as my base – a hotel which sits at the beating heart of Barcelona’s gothic quarter, and which is but metres from the imposing gothic cathedral. This super central location meant that I could explore this most characterful of Barcelona neighbourhoods with the ease of breathing; a discovery which began on this first sunny morning with the old cathedral which is at its heart.

For all its incredibly imposing gothic structure, its lavish golden choir stalls and its equally elaborate gold-fringed side chapels, the thing I love about Barcelona’s cathedral is the little cloister bolted onto its side which, either by way of tradition or for some other more logical reason of which I remain ignorant, is the home of a lovely gabble of squawking, inquisitive and cheeky white geese. This lively bunch of orange-beaked beauties are just one feature of what has to be one of the most tranquil corners of this otherwise lively city; a space where everything seems perfectly in tune with each other, from the lush green plants which are grown in the cloister’s centre and through which sunlight dapples over the gothic stonework, to the orange trees which are seemingly reflected in the beaks of the geese, whether by design or coincidence. It’s a beautiful space, and easily one of my favourites in the city. But we could not linger – for we had the rest of the old town and the city to explore.

The Cathedral’s geese-filled cloisters…